Life belt



I. J. NAYAR LIFE BELT Jan. 28, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 15, 1962INVENTOR- fs/mc JORGE MYA F,

ATTORNEY Jan. 28, 1964 I. J. NAYAR 3,119,132

LIFE BELT Filed Nov. 15, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORIVE') United States Patent ()fiice 3,ll9,132 Patented Jan. 28,1964 3,119,132 LIFE BELT Isaac Jorge Nayar, 354 Franklin St., BuenosAires, Argentina Filed Nov. 15, 1962, Ser. No. 237,978 3 Claims. (Cl.9-319) This invention relates to life preservers, and more particularlyto a novel inflatable life belt.

More specifically, the invention relates to a novel inflatable life beltprovided with a set of flexible pneumatic bags which, by means of asimple operation, can be readily converted into effective floats forimmediate use as a life preserver.

To this end, the life belt comprises essentially a flexible band havingcorresponding clasp or buckle members for fastening together the freeends thereof so as to constitute a belt. This belt is provided with atleast two elongated pockets having covers the closure of which isdefined by a catch mounted on a guideway for each pocket. Within each ofthese pockets there is housed a folded pneumatic bag serving as a float,the inlet or charging nozzle of which is connected to a gas conduitleading to a common valve head operatively connected to a bottlecontaining a suitable gas for feeding said bags through said conduits.One end of each of a pair of lines guided by sets of guides is anchoredto the control head of said valve, while the opposite ends of the linesare each secured to the catch of a corresponding guideway, so that theopening of the valve for feeding gas into the bags will simultaneouslyelease the catches defining the closure for the pockets housing saidbags, thereby allowing said bags to pneu matically expand outwardly inthe form of floats.

In accordance with the above, an object of the invention is to provide asafe life belt which will automatically extend the pneumatic bagsoutwardly of the pockets housing them.

A further object of the invention is to facilitate the operation of thesystem, bearing in mind that the circumstances requiring the use of thelife belt demand a maximum actuating speed, which is obtained in thedevice of this invention inasmuch as the outward projection of the floatbags is effected simultaneously with the gas bottle opening operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a life belt which willbe comfortable in use due to the small dimensions thereof, for whichpurpose the pneumatic bags are folded into a close pack within therespective pockets when in inoperative position.

A further object of the invention is to provide an inflatable life belthaving an extremely simple actuating mechanism which will not be subjectto mechanical failure due to jamming of the catches on the pocketclosure guideways.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an inflatable lifebelt which may be readily fastened and unfastened and which may beapplied either over or underneath the users clothes.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a life belt whichis relatively simple in construction and may be manufactured at arelatively low cost without sacrificing its functional efficiency.

A still further object of the invention is to provide for thesimultaneous setting in operative position of both pneumatic bags asfloats, for which purpose the actuation of a single control will operatea common discharge valve for feeding gas from a gas bottle to therespective floats through corresponding gas feed lines.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an inflatable lifebelt having a gas bottle which may be readily removed and changed for afresh bottle when required.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the courseof the following detailed description of the novel inflatable life belt.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readilycarried into practice, a preferred embodiment thereof has beenillustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a life belt in accordance with theinvention, showing the general construction and arrangement of thecomponent parts thereof;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the life belt shown in FIG. 1 with the endsthereof fastened together;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the valve head, showing the manner of anchoringthe ends of the lines connecting the small control hand-wheel with theslide catches closing the belt pockets, parts being shown broken away;

FIG. 4 is a partly sectional view similar to FIG. 3 but after rotatingthe control hand-wheel so as to allow the flow of gas into the pneumaticbags and at the same time release said bags, parts being shown brokenaway;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a life belt in accordance with theinvention as applied to the body of a user, a portion of the latterbeing shown in dotted lines; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 5, clearly showing theoperation of actuating the gas flow valve and the simultaneous openingof the float pockets, the floats being shown in the course of beinginflated so as to perform their life preserving function.

The same reference characters are used to indicate like or correspondingparts throughout the drawings.

The life belt according to this invention, which may be made of canvas,plastic sheet material, leather or other suitable material, designatedgenerally by the reference character a, comprises a plurality of bands 1(elastic or otherwise) having integrally therewith, or preferably linkedthereto as shown in the drawings, a backing 2 for fixing the pockets 3,the free ends of said belt terminating in clasp members 4 or the likefor fastening the belt about the waist.

As shown in the drawings, at a zone opposite the clasp members 4 whenconnected to each other, and which are operatively arranged to one sideof the users waist, the bands 1 are supplemented with a plate 5 providedwith slotted end portions 6 for the linked insertion of said bands 1. Apair of clamps or loop members 7 are secured to the outer surface ofsaid plate 5, the lower clamp or loop member 7 having a bottom on whichthere is seated a bottle 8 containing a charge of gas (carbon dioxide orany other suitable gas) which can be delivered for in flating purposesthrough the actuation of a small handwheel 8 fixed on a stem 9 connectedto the plug of a valve 10.

The lower edges of the backing members 2 have a hinge line 11 of a cover12 forming a part of pocket 3 wherein there is housed a suitably foldedflexible pneumatic bag 13 (one for each pocket 3), for which purpose thebags 13 are formed of flexible sheet material such as rubber, plastic orthe like. Each bag 13 is provided with an inlet nozzle 14- from whichcorresponding flexible gas conduits 1515' extend to the valve head 16fed by the bottle 8 through the valve 10.

The covers of the pockets 3 may include suitable frame members, and theupper edge 17 of each pocket 3 is provided with a slidahle member 18guided on a guideway which, together with a stop 18 or the like providedon the upper edge of each cover 12, constitutes a catch defining theclosure for said pocket 3 having the pneumatic bags 13 housed therein.To each catch member 18 there is anchored one end of a line 19 which isguided by sets of eye-members or guides 20 and extends to a crosshead 21fixed to the stem 9 attached to the valve control 3' for the gas bottle8, the opposite ends of said lines 19 being secured to respectivediametrically opposite points of said crosshead 21 in the embodimentillustrated, as best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

In operation, the life belt a is fastened around the waist 'of a user b(FIGS. 5 and 6) by means of the clasp members 4 (FIG. 2) the pockets 3remaining towards the front and the back of the user, respectively, andthe clasp members at one side, while the gas bottle 8 with itsregulating valve stem 9 will remain at the opposite side of the userswaist. In practice, the gas bottle 8 may equally well be arrangedtowards the front of the user, for example adjacent the front pocket 3,if so desired.

With the belt a applied around the waist of the user b as shown in FIG.5, it will form a compact and not uncomfortable assembly, with thepneumatic bags suitably folded within the front and rear pockets 3 whichare held closed by the upper catches 18.

In order to convert the belt into an effective life preserver, it willbe sufficient to turn the small hand-wheel -8' in the directionindicated by the arrow in FIG. 6 so as to cause the opening of the valve10, whereby the gas contained in the bottle 8 will pass from the valvehead 16 through the conduits 15-15 and into the bags 13 which are thusgradually inflated. At the same time, and since the lines 19 connectedto the catches 18 are anchored to the crosshead 21 on the stem 9 (FIG.3), the rotation of the small hand-wheel 8 fixed on said stem 9 willcause said crosshead 21 to turn and thereby draw the lines 19 (FIG. 4)which will in turn draw the catches away from stops 18, therebyreleasing the stops 18 and allowing the opening of said pockets 3.Whereupon, the expansion of the bags 13 due to the pressure of the gasfed thereto, will cause the opening of the covers 12 and finally theprojection of said bags outwardly and upwardly in the form of floats, asshown in FIG. 6 of the accompanying drawings.

It is evident that in carrying the invention into practice, many changesand/or modifications in the structural details may occur to thoseskilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A life belt comprising a sectional band, means for fastening togetherthe free ends thereof, a pair of rigid pockets between the sectionshaving separate covers, catch members for holding said covers closed,the upper edges of said covers being in matching relation withrelatively rigid upper edges of the pocket openings and constitutingrespective guideways for the catch member for each pocket, each of saidpockets when in closed position hous- 4 ing an inoperatively foldedpneumatic bag, a gas charge container removably mounted on said band andhaving a valve, a valve head and a valve stem, a gas inlet connected toeach of said pneumatic bags, 2. gas conduit extending from each gasinlet to said valve head, a small valve-actuating hand-wheel fixed tothe stern of said valve, a crosshead fixed to said valve stem, a pair ofguide lines having one end anchored to said crosshead and the oppositeend secured to the respective cover catch member, whereby the gascontainer valve opening operation will automatically withdraw the catchmembers and release said pneumatic bags.

2. A life belt comprising a number of spaced elastic band sectionsforming loops, plates between certain of said band sections, said platesconnected at the ends thereof to certain ends of said loops, said platesconstituting the front and back of the belt when worn, another plateinterposed between other ends of said loops, said plate constituting oneside of the belt when worn, and clasps secured to still other ends ofsaid loops, said clasps and related band constituting the other side ofthe belt when worn, said clasps constituting means for fastening thebelt around the waist of the wearer, rigid pockets supported on theoutside of said front and back plates, inflatable bags in said pockets,releasable covers for said pockets, releasable means for holding thecovers in closed condition, a bottle of inflatable substance supportedon the outside of said side plate, operative connections between saidbottle and said bags for inflating the bags, a common control valvemeans for said connections, said valve means including a valve head, aturnable valve stem for actuating said valve head and a wheel on thestem for manually turning the same, means of operative connectionbetween the valve stem and said releasable means whereby upon turnlingof the stem by the wheel the bags are inflated and the covers of thepockets are automatically released, the inflating operation of the bagsforcing the covers to open condition and forcing the bags to inflatedcondition outwardly of the pockets.

3. The life belt of claim 2 wherein the releasable holding meanscomprises a slidable catch on the top of the body of the pocket and astop member on the cover coacting with the catch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSDesjarlais July 21, 1959

1. A LIFE BELT COMPRISING A SECTIONAL BAND, MEANS FOR FASTENING TOGETHERTHE FREE ENDS THEREOF, A PAIR OF RIGID POCKETS BETWEEN THE SECTIONSHAVING SEPARATE COVERS, CATCH MEMBERS FOR HOLDING SAID COVERS CLOSED,THE UPPER EDGES OF SAID COVERS BEING IN MATCHING RELATION WITHRELATIVELY RIGID UPPER EDGES OF THE POCKET OPENINGS AND CONSTITUTINGRESPECTIVE GUIDEWAYS FOR THE CATCH MEMBER FOR EACH POCKET, EACH OF SAIDPOCKETS WHEN IN CLOSED POSITION HOUSING AN INOPERATIVELY FOLDEDPNEUMATIC BAG, A GAS CHARGE CONTAINER REMOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BAND ANDHAVING A VALVE, A VALVE HEAD AND A VALVE STEM, A GAS INLET CONNECTED TOEACH OF SAID PNEUMATIC BAGS, A GAS CONDUIT EXTENDING FROM EACH GAS INLETTO SAID VALVE HEAD, A SMALL VALVE-ACTUATING HAND-WHEEL FIXED TO THE STEMOF SAID VALVE, A CROSSHEAD FIXED TO SAID VALVE STEM, A PAIR OF GUIDELINES HAVING ONE END ANCHORED TO SAID CROSSHEAD AND THE OPPOSITE ENDSECURED TO THE RESPECTIVE COVER CATCH MEMBER, WHEREBY THE GAS CONTAINERVALVE OPENING OPERATION WILL AUTOMATICALLY WITHDRAW THE CATCH MEMBERSAND RELEASE SAID PNEUMATIC BAGS.